What do Crickets, Spiders, Cicadas and Ladybugs have in common? The terminally smarty-pants among us (we know a few of those) would point out that they are all arthropods. Your Girlfriends will tell you that they are some of the best magazines for children published. The Cricket Magazine (www.cricketmag.com) group's mission (motto?) is that "only the best of the best is good enough for the young," and their family of magazines is, in fact, the best of the best. The Cricket Family has a magazine for every age. Babybug is set up for little ones 6 months to 3 years old. The pages are sturdy cardboard, the corners are rounded, there are no staples. The stories and rhymes are perfect for reading aloud, and each issue comes with expert suggestions to make read-aloud time even better. Ladybug is also a read-aloud magazine, but geared for children ages 2 to 6. The stories are a little longer, and each magaz! ine includes a removable 4 page activity section. As children get older, they can move (at any time during their subscriptions) to Spider, then Cricket, the flagship magazine, and on to Cicada, a literary magazine for teens. The fifteen magazines in the Cricket group run the gamut from history to science to literature to art and more. Not all are named for bugs. Each is perfectly attuned to its age group, and you are sure to find just the right magazine for any child. These magazines do not accept outside advertising. This is just wonderful - our children are barraged by enough ads everywhere else in their lives! It does mean, however, that the magazines are more expensive on a subscription basis than you may be used to. The expense is well worth it. These magazines are the best. In addition, if your choice proves not to be perfect for your target child, you can change your subscription to any other of the magazines at any time. For example, Alex switched from Spider to Ask for one of her children who is just more interested in science than literature. He has now graduated to Muse and eagerly anticipates each new issue. After all, just getting something in the mail is exciting enough, much less a magazine geared to his interests! Finally, a testament to the quality of these magazines is that top children's authors and illustrators vie for the opportunity to publish articles in them. This, despite the fact that "modest" as a descriptor for the pay is probably being a little generous. But don't take our word for it. You can preview a copy of any of their magazines on their website. Log on! We know you'll be impressed. Your Bug-Loving Girlfriends (arthropod-philes?), Alex and Suzanne	advertising from our affiliates           our website has more great links for kids. Click here!